RUV |

03 Mar

Hooked on Trapped

The Icelandic TV series Trapped has been well received in the UK. It’s the first Icelandic crime series shown on BBC Four, in the popular slot reserved for what the Brits call Nordic Noir. Last week I had the privilege to interview two TV critics about Trapped, Alison Graham from Radio Times and Caroline Frost from The Huffington Post. My cameraman, Ingimar Eydal, went with me to meet the ladies and the interviews were aired on the culture show Menning, aired on RUV (The National Icelandic Broadcasting Service).

UK reviews on Trapped:

Sam Wollaston, Guardian

Ceri Radford, The Telegraph

The Week

Trapped on Wikipedia

03 Jul

Downton Abbey finale

10639717_10203663541923167_8469119200001364709_n The last day of filming the very last episode of Downton Abbey took place in Highclere Castle yesterday. The series will air here in the UK this autumn, and as expected the last episode will be on Christmas Day.

There will be carolling, that much we know already. There is also a new puppy called Pringles and… drumroll please! Carson will spill some wine! Oh my! Has good old Carson lost his touch? Will he and Mrs. Hughes get married? What will happen to Mary or poor Edith? Julian Fellows has not said much, but at least he’s said the theme of series six is resolution.

ITV’s much loved period drama has been a worldwide hit. It regularly pulls in 11 million viewers in the UK alone and 25.5 million viewers watched series five. There have been rumours that there might be a Downton movie in the pipes. We’ll see!

The photos are from my visit to Highclere Castle in August, when I interviewed Lady von Carnarvon for RUV. Now the media has been banned from taking photos of the paintings in the castle so this first photo is a bit special.

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16 Jun

Hilarious football fanatic

Iceland and England are among the most dedicated football nations according to Sporting Intelligence. Many Icelanders are devoted supporters of English leagues like United, Arsenal and Liverpool. They save up to go to matches in London, have all the gadgets and sing along while watching a match on TV.

Do British football fans support Icelandic teams then? Nah… not so likely. In these fantastically funny comedy sketches we meet Stuart, a fanatic supporter of the Icelandic league KR. It’s taken from the series Drekasvæðið on RUV (The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service) but don’t worry, it’s in English!

14 May

Mesmerised by sheep

10404342_850710088347526_6383692773440495462_n The Icelandic nation is mesmerised in front of the screens at the moment as The National Icelandic Broadcasting Service (RÚV) has begun its first foray into so-called “Slow TV”, popularized by our cousins in Norway. The Norwegian state broadcaster has in the past had live feeds from f.ex. ferry sailing. The first Icelandic slow tv broadcast is from the annual birthing of lambs. It is being shown live for 24 hours.

Meanwhile the Icelandic film director Grímur Hákonarson is bringing his new film, Rams, to the Cannes Film Festival. It has been selected for the Un Certain Regard section. Rams is set in a remote Icelandic farming valley, where two brothers who haven’t spoken in 40 years have to come together in order to save what’s dearest to them – their sheep. The film was shot in the remote valley of Bárdardalur in the north of Iceland this past winter. Grímur has told Variety all about it.

Here in the UK, the news do not focus on rams at the moment. Not exactly. However Nigel Farage and prince Charles have been on the news a lot today. The former leader of UKIP, Farage, doesn’t seem to know if he’s coming or going these days. You can read more about it here.

Prince Charles 27 letters to then Prime Minister Tony Blair and members of his government between September 2004 and March 2005 have been in the spotlight. The question is if the letters influenced the government. The prince obviously cares about farming, cause writing to Mr Blair, he expresses a “growing sense of anxiety” that the Hill Farming Allowance, which supports farmers working on Britain’s uplands, could be scrapped. On the BBC news website you can read more about the letters.